


treading on thin ice

by byungari



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Jaehwan-centric, M/M, Oops, uh idk how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 09:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15969143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byungari/pseuds/byungari
Summary: he wants to say that he doesn’t get why minhyun had started losing his feelings for jaehwan out of nowhere, and why their relationship had gone down the drain, but the truth is, he does know.he’s just not good enough for minhyun, it seems.





	treading on thin ice

**Author's Note:**

> -minhwan start dating sometime between concept evals and the final episode  
> -irl he’s taking a break from school (to my knowledge at least) but in this fic jaehwan is still attending classes at howon univ when he gets the chance to  
> -fic takes place from around beautiful promotions until now

“i’m sorry,” minhyun says quietly as jaehwan stares at the wall in front of him blankly. they’re in jaehwan’s room because minhyun had said he wanted to talk. jaehwan had known what the conversation was going to be about even before minhyun said anything. the signs had been there for quite some time but jaehwan had wanted to believe that he was just overthinking everything.

“i wish it could’ve worked out; i really do.” minhyun reaches over to grab jaehwan’s hand and give what he hopes is a reassuring squeeze but jaehwan pulls away before he can. “jaehwan…”

“i get it, hyung,” jaehwan manages to get out without his voice cracking. “i get it. please just, go.”

minhyun swallows before standing up. “okay. jaehwan, i’m sorry. i’m so sorry.”

jaehwan doesn’t give the elder a response and continues to stare at the wall. he wants to say that he doesn’t get why minhyun had started losing his feelings for jaehwan out of nowhere, and why their relationship had gone down the drain, but the truth is, he _does_ know.

he’s just not good enough for minhyun, it seems.

***

filming for zero base is hard because they’re forced to be in close contact for a set period of time. their members know about their break up and try to cover up the awkwardness as much as they can, but there’s only so much they can do. it doesn’t help that the fans seem to like pairing jaehwan and minhyun up, but hey, at least they broke up _after_ the filming of season one.

“you okay?” daniel asks in a quiet voice so that it wouldn’t be picked up by the mics. jaehwan just shrugs in response and continues to eat his snacks. daniel frowns a bit at this but doesn’t push, since he knows that their actions would be caught on camera.

jaehwan stares absentmindedly, not too worried about how he’ll look since he knows his fans will assume he’s just engrossed in eating his snack—it’s his favorite, after all.

something catches jaehwan’s eyes, and he freezes for a second before forcing himself to relax by reminding himself that no matter how comfortable zero base is, their every move is being caught on camera still.

it’s minhyun and seongwoo. they’re giggling about something in the corner, and jaehwan’s chest feels tight. he recognizes the way minhyun’s eyes sparkle, because it’s the way they sparkled when they were together in the beginning of their relationship.

“hyung. jaehwan hyung!” jihoon bounces up to jaehwan, holding up a stack of uno cards coupled with a wicked grin. “we’re going to play uno. want to join us?”

jaehwan throws one last glance at the giggling pair in the corner and turns back to jihoon, forcing a smile onto his face.

“sure.”

***

jaehwan seriously contemplates on begging someone from the other apartment to switch rooms with him when he runs into minhyun in the kitchen one night. it’s late, and everyone else is asleep, but jaehwan had wanted to catch up on some schoolwork.

“oh.” minhyun blinks in surprise when jaehwan walks into the kitchen. jaehwan inwardly curses; he just wanted some water, dammit. “why are you up so late?”

“schoolwork.” jaehwan walks around minhyun to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator and prays that minhyun doesn’t try to strike up conversation. it’s the first time they’re alone together since the break-up. it’s been a hectic couple of weeks between promotions and other schedules.

“i see.” minhyun purses his lips. “do you have time to talk?”

“i really have to get my readings done. i’m really behind. sorry, hyung.” he knows that he probably doesn’t sound very sorry, but jaehwan can’t bring himself to care right now. he’s tired both physically and mentally, and he just wants to sleep.

“ah, okay, then. i guess we can talk later,” minhyun says, sounding hopeful. jaehwan ignores his tone and just offers minhyun a curt nod before heading back to his room.

he thinks back to the warnings jisung had given them, about how they needed to make sure that if the relationship doesn’t end well, they can’t let it affect the group, and jaehwan sends jisung a mental apology to their leader for not heeding his warnings.

***

“you look like shit,” is how jihoon greets him when the eleven of them make their way down to the parking lot to head to the shop before going off to their schedule.

“wow, thanks,” jaehwan says sarcastically. “you sure know how woo them, jihoonie.”

“he doesn’t need to woo you, he already has me,” woojin pipes up from jihoon’s left. jihoon beams at this and the two of them link arms while jaehwan pretends to gag.

“get away from me, please. i don’t need this gross romance first thing in the morning,” jaehwan says while gently shoving the two youngsters away.

“hey, don’t hate on our love!” woojin protests, though the way his eyes are twinkling mischievously betrays his actual emotions.

jihoon plays along and gives jaehwan a big pout. “yeah, hyung. why do you hate love so much, huh?”

jaehwan let out a shocked bark of laughter at how audacious the couple is being so early in the morning. “you’re both brats, you know that?”

“we know,” jihoon and woojin chorus together. they both give jaehwan angelic smiles that the elder knows better than to trust, before the three of them board the van together.

jaehwan is careful to keep his face blank when he spots minhyun and seongwoo already sitting in the back, their heads bent down looking at something on minhyun’s phone. they’re sitting close together—closer than they need to be, and it doesn’t take a rocket science to see where their friendship is headed towards.

he wonders how long it’ll take the two 95-liners to get together and announce themselves as a couple, and jaehwan can’t help the bitter, angry feelings that well up inside of him.

***

“so,” woojin whispers to jihoon. it’s late at night and the eleven of them decided to get some midnight snack together and just hang out for a bit before heading to bed. he and jihoon are on the couch, sharing a plate of _jokbal_ together, when woojin notices something.

“hm?” jihoon hums, mouth full of food. woojin snickers at the way jihoon’s cheek puff out and gives him a short kiss.

“do you think those hyungs are dating?” he asks jihoon, nodding in the general direction of where seongwoo is attempting to get minhyun to feed him. “they’ve been getting awfully close these days.”

jihoon studies his hyungs with a small frown. “i don’t know. they’ve always been close, but…”

“but they’re closer these days,” woojin finishes jihoon’s trail of thoughts. “poor jaehwan hyung.”

“yeah.” jihoon looks over to where jaehwan is picking at his food, while sungwoon and daniel are next to him and trying to (or at least jihoon thinks so) distract jaehwan from the sight of the two 95-liners.

***

jaehwan sees seongwoo kiss minhyun one night when everyone else is sleeping and he wordlessly turns around and goes back to his room, his empty mug clutched tightly in his hand.

***

if anyone notices how subdued jaehwan has been the past few days, nobody comments on it. jaehwan sees the worried looks sungwoon and daniel give him, but he ignores it. he finds himself trying to distance himself more and more from the hyung-line and starts hanging out with the younger members more and more.

“hyung, are you okay?” daehwi asks him one morning when they’re on their way to the salon. jaehwan looks up from his phone and blinks at daehwi sleepily.

“huh?” a quick glance around the van shows that everyone else is sleeping. “what do you mean?”

“well, you’ve been hanging out with us an awful lot lately,” daehwi says. “not that there’s anything wrong with that, but i know you usually hang out with min—daniel hyung. yeah.” daehwi trails off awkwardly after that and jaehwan almost doesn’t catch the mistake.

“oh. well, daniel’s been busy with individual schedules lately, i guess,” jaehwan shrugs, feigning nonchalance. it’s true, to a certain extent. daehwi purses his lips but doesn’t say anything else after that, opting to snuggle into jaehwan’s shoulder instead.

“wake me up when we get to the salon, please?” he asks jaehwan. “if you’re not sleeping, that is.”

“will do, daehwi.” jaehwan pats the youngster’s head and leans back and stares out at the window, lost in thought.

***

it seems like they’re keeping their relationship lowkey, because two weeks pass by since jaehwan saw them kiss and nobody has any clue that minhyun and seongwoo are dating.

not that anyone would be surprised, jaehwan muses bitterly. anyone with eyes could see that they were well on their way to becoming a couple, anyways.

they mess up, however, one night, when seongwoo gets excited about beating jihoon at mario kart and kisses minhyun in victory. minhyun laughs and kisses seongwoo back just as happily, and everyone’s jaws drop simultaneously.

“what.” woojin deadpans as minhyun and seongwoo separate with red faces. “what.”

it’s silent for a few seconds before sungwoon breaks the silence with the question burning in everybody’s minds: “since when?”

seongwoo rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “it hasn’t been that long… a month, maybe?” he looks at minhyun for confirmation, who nods.

so, it’s been going on long before he saw them that night, then, jaehwan thinks.

“i see,” jisung says awkwardly. “well, we’re happy for you guys. just not in front of the kids, yeah? keep it pg.”

“hey!” maknae-line starts to protest, and just like that, the awkward atmosphere is broken, and jaehwan can’t help the small smile that makes its way onto his face. leave it to their leader to know just how to get rid of any awkwardness in the air.

daniel plops down next to jaehwan and throws an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in close.

“you okay?” he asks quietly into jaehwan’s hair.

jaehwan shrugs. “i will be.” he looks around the room and sees that he’s getting looks of worry of various degrees. some people (jisung, sungwoon, jinyoung, and guanlin) are trying to be subtle while others (jihoon, woojin, and daehwi) are blatantly staring at jaehwan to gauge his reaction for the new couple.

he makes eye contact with both minhyun and seongwoo. minhyun swallows awkwardly while seongwoo looks apologetic.

daniel’s grip on his shoulders get tighter as jaehwan says, “i’m happy for you guys. be happy.”

***

it hurts being in the same room as minhyun and seongwoo. the two can’t seem to keep their hands off each other, which isn’t too surprising to anybody seeing how they both love skinship in general.

jihoon makes it his personal mission to make sure that jaehwan doesn’t get a chance to feel the pain by keeping him busy whenever they have free time. and, of course, woojin joins the cause as well since they’re pretty much a packaged deal, and while jaehwan feels grateful that they care about him so much, he wishes that they would let him just _sleep_.

“i’m _tired_ ,” jaehwan whines when jihoon barges into his room and asks him to go to the arcade with him and woojin. “let me sleep.”

“but hyung,” jihoon pouts. “arcade! ddr! shooting games! _claw machines_.”

jaehwan rolls his eyes but can’t stop chuckling at how adorable jihoon could be. “that’s great, jihoonie, but i _really_ need some sleep. i also need to catch up on homework but who has time for that, right?”

jihoon’s pout gets bigger but can’t bring himself to try and convince jaehwan any more since he pulled the homework card. “fine. but let me know if you get bored, okay? we’ll come back and pick you up.”

“okay, okay. have fun with woojin.” jaehwan waves him off and collapses onto his bed with a sigh when jihoon leaves, closing the door behind him. finally, some peace and quiet. jaehwan doesn’t have to worry about any thoughts plaguing his mind, despite jihoon’s worries, because as soon as he closes his eyes, jaehwan is off to dreamland.

***

“god dammit,” he mutters under his breath when he catches sight of minhyun and seongwoo cuddling on the couch. why were they always in _this_ apartment? he walks as quietly as he can into the kitchen to grab a snack, cursing himself for not leaving with jihoon when he had the chance to.

“let me go get some more popcorn.” jaehwan hears minhyun say and his eyes get wide in panic. oh, shit. he quickly grabs a bag of chips and attempts to make his escape but runs head-first into minhyun’s chest instead.

“whoa.” minhyun grabs jaehwan’s arms to steady him. “are you okay?”

“just peachy,” jaehwan manages to say. “my bad.”

“it’s okay,” minhyun says and steps back, and the two ex-lovers stare at each other awkwardly. “did you eat dinner…?”

“no, i just woke up from a nap,” jaehwan tells minhyun. “i’ll be in my room if you need me.” he attempts to leave but minhyun grabs his arm before he can.

“wait. you should eat something.” minhyun looks worried and jaehwan wants to laugh. _now_ he looks worried? “seongwoo and i are planning to order some food soon. what do you want to eat?”

“i’m not that hungry right now.” jaehwan shakes off minhyun’s grip and steps to the side. “i have to get back. sewoon and i are skyping right now.” it’s not a lie; he really had left sewoon on hold while he went to get snacks.

“oh, okay.” minhyun looks like he has something else he wants to say but jaehwan leaves before he can say anything else.

he’s done listening to whatever minhyun has to say.

***

from: **minhyun hyung**

jaehwan

can we talk? please?

***

to: **minhyun hyung**

no.

***

surprisingly (or not, depending on how you looked at it, jaehwan supposes), it’s seongwoo who corners him first.

“jaehwan.” seongwoo’s voice is serious, and jaehwan tries not to scoff. “we need to talk. you, me, and minhyun.”

“i have nothing to say, hyung,” jaehwan replies in a flat voice. “can you let me go? i have plans.”

seongwoo lets out a frustrated sigh. “why are you avoiding the problem? this isn’t helping anything. you know we only have a few months left before—”

“i’m not avoiding the problem,” jaehwan finally snaps. “if anything, _you_ guys are making a problem out of nothing. minhyun hyung and i broke up, right? why does it matter to me that you guys are dating now? it has nothing to do with me anymore.”

“jaehwan, please,” seongwoo is pleading now and jaehwan wants to roll his eyes. “can we talk? please?”

“i said,” jaehwan hisses, “i have _nothing to say_.”

he turns and walks away, and seongwoo doesn’t stop him. he walks past a waiting minhyun who tries to reach out and grab him but jaehwan steps out of reach before he can and leaves the apartment, closing the door with a loud _bang!_ behind him.

***

the atmosphere surrounding the three of them is icy the next few days. news of seongwoo’s and jaehwan’s confrontation spreads like wildfire amongst the members, and they do what they can to make sure the two of them aren’t in the same room with each other alone anymore.

jihoon and daehwi are particularly furious with the way their 95-liner hyungs are handling the situation. jihoon glares at minhyun and seongwoo whenever they try to talk to jaehwan again, and daehwi somehow always manages to appear out of nowhere to drag jaehwan away to talk about some compositions they’ve been working on together.

“children,” jaehwan says tiredly when he catches jihoon and daehwi frowning in minhyun’s and seongwoo’s general direction. “stop acting like brats.”

“we’re not acting like brats!” jihoon protests. “what did we even do, huh?” daehwi nods in agreement from behind and jaehwan lets out a sigh.

“whatever is happening is between me, minhyun hyung, and seongwoo hyung, okay? stop glaring at them and treating them like criminals whenever you see them,” jaehwan warns the two.

“but hyung,” daehwi starts, but jaehwan holds up a hand to stop him.

“no buts,” jaehwan says. “the last thing i want to do is cause a rift between you guys and them. the fans are going to start noticing soon.”

“news flash, they already did.” woojin sidles up to the three of them and holds out his phone, showing them a tweet from one of their fans. “they’re wondering if something happened between you and minhyun hyung.”

“well damn,” jaehwan says. “our fans are so smart.”

“or you guys are just obvious.” jinyoung walks up to them and shrugs. “that’s also another possibility.”

“i second jinyoung hyung’s opinion,” daehwi pipes up and ignores woojin’s “of course you do.”

“you should talk to them.” it’s daniel who speaks, scaring the five of them. they hadn’t even noticed that he was around, listening to their conversation. “i know you don’t want to, but do you really want to walk around eggshells during our last couple of months together?”

jaehwan is silent, knowing that daniel is right, but that doesn’t mean he wants to admit it.

***

“you still haven’t talked to them?” sewoon raises an eyebrow. “hyung, it’s been months.”

“don’t you start nagging me too,” jaehwan mutters sullenly. “i don’t even know what i would say. ‘hey, thanks for breaking my heart but i hope the two of you are happy together?’ i’m not their fucking dad. they don’t need my blessing to date.”

sewoon sighs and jaehwan watches as the screen lags and freezes at an unflattering angle and stifles his snickers. “that’s not the point here, hyung,” sewoon says. “they’re trying to go back to how things were before all this happened.”

“that’s not possible, and you know it,” jaehwan mumbles quietly.

“you never know until you try, hyung,” sewoon says sagely. “you never know until you try.”

***

jaehwan decides to heed sewoon’s advice. he sends a text to minhyun that night asking him if they can talk, and he gets a response not even a minute later.

from: **minhyun hyung**

yes, please. when’s a good time for you?

to: **minhyun hyung**

right now if that’s ok with u

bring seongwoo hyung

i’ll be on the roof

it doesn’t take long for minhyun to show up on the roof with seongwoo in tow. they look hesitant when they spot jaehwan plucking random notes on his guitar while staring off into space absentmindedly.

“jaehwan?” minhyun breaks the silence. “you wanted to talk?”

jaehwan jolts out of his daze and blinks up at minhyun and seongwoo in confusion before straightening up. “oh, yeah. right. uh, sit down i guess?”

minhyun and seongwoo both sit down and jaehwan snorts at how obedient they’re being. it’s almost as if he’s the hyung and they’re his dongsengs.

“so, what changed your mind? you seemed pretty adamant last time.” seongwoo raises an eyebrow. “not that i’m not glad you did. thanks for wanting to talk.”

jaehwan shrugs. “some people made a couple of good points, i guess. so, what did you guys want to talk about exactly?”

“we’re sorry,” minhyun blurts out. “the way we handled everything was… inconsiderate of your feelings, and i’m sorry.”

“inconsiderate how, exactly?” jaehwan questions. “we were already broken up when you two got together, weren’t we?”

“well, yes,” minhyun says hesitantly. “but still. we should’ve been subtler.”

“no offense, hyung, but subtlety isn’t exactly in seongwoo hyung’s dictionary,” jaehwan points out dryly.

“hey,” seongwoo protests. “i hate how i can’t even say anything to refute that.”

seongwoo’s protest gets a chuckle out of minhyun and a small smile from jaehwan, but the latter quickly sobers up and gives the couple a blank stare.

“you guys don’t have to walk on eggshells around me, you know,” jaehwan says bluntly. “to be quite frank, i’m past the point of caring. minhyun hyung and i broke up and now you guys are dating. that’s great. i really hope you two are happy.”

minhyun’s and seongwoo’s faces fall what jaehwan says. “jaehwan,” minhyun starts. “that’s not why we wanted to talk. or hear.”

“yeah,” seongwoo nods. “we wanted to apologize—”

jaehwan heaves a heavy sigh at that. “apologize for what, exactly? for dating? for being in love? for doing all this in front of my face? there’s nothing to apologize for, hyungs.” jaehwan holds up a hand when minhyun tries to talk. “i’m not done. if there’s anything to apologize for, it should be for being so fucking gross around each other. jisung hyung said to keep it pg, didn’t he? what you guys do in front of the kids is definitely _not_ pg.”

“we don’t even do anything bad!” seongwoo protests. “wait, that’s not the point here.”

“my point is,” jaehwan continues, “there’s nothing you guys have to apologize for, and there’s nothing to talk about. minhyun hyung and i are over. we’re just groupmates now.”

minhyun looks hurt at that comment but jaehwan can’t bring himself to apologize. if this is the only way to get these two to leave him alone, then so be it.

“is that really all we are to you?” minhyun asks him quietly. seongwoo looks at jaehwan with a wounded expression, but jaehwan doesn’t let himself waver.

he stares straight into minhyun’s eyes as he answers. “what else would you be to me?”

***

from: **sewoonie**

did you talk to them?

to: **sewoonie**

yeah

from: **sewoonie**

how’d it go?

to: **sewoonie**

it

went

from: **sewoonie**

hyung…

to: **sewoonie**

it’s whatever now

i’ll talk to u later

from: **sewoonie**

sigh

okay

goodnight, hyung

to: **sewoonie**

goodnight, sewoonie.

**Author's Note:**

> ending is open-ended(?????) on purpose uwu  
> :)
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/iridescent__ong) | [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/iridescent__ong)


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